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The battle of life is, in most cases, fought up-hill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honour.
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“The battle of life is, in most cases, fought up-hill; and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honour.”

Samuel Smiles

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Source
Self-Help
Date
1859
Meaning

Meaning of “The battle of life is, in most cases,…”

Difficulty is not treated as evidence that effort is pointless; resistance can be part of the process by which achievement acquires substance.

Source context

Where does it come from?

Self-Help, Chapter XI, “Self-Culture—Facilities and Difficulties,” Project Gutenberg #935. The passage comes immediately after Hodson’s reflection on resolutely doing difficult duties and continues by presenting difficulty as a stimulus to people of resolution and valour.

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Courage Quotes About Acting Despite FearEffortHard TimesHard WorkHope Quotes About Possibility in Uncertain TimesInspirational Quotes About Hope, Courage & PossibilityMotivational Quotes for Action, Effort & PersistenceNever Give UpPatiencePerseverance Quotes About Sustained EffortResilience Quotes About Recovery & AdaptationStrengthSuccessAdversityMotivation For WorkStruggle
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Source identified
His efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes apparently hopeless.
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“His efforts were long, laborious, and sometimes apparently hopeless.”

Samuel Smiles · Men of Invention and Industry · 1884
Meaning & context

Smiles emphasizes the duration and difficulty of John Harrison’s work before success, making perseverance visible as sustained labor rather than instant inspiration.

Source details

Men of Invention and Industry, Chapter III, “John Harrison: Inventor of the Marine Chronometer”; Project Gutenberg #725. This is Smiles’s biographical narration, not Harrison speaking in first person.

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I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.
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“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”

Booker T. Washington · Up from Slavery · 1901
Meaning & context

Achievement is measured against the difficulty of the path, not just the final position, making endurance and progress part of the definition of success.

Source details

Up from Slavery, Chapter II, “Boyhood Days,” Project Gutenberg #2376. Washington reflects on the obstacles facing Black youth after slavery and measures success by difficulty overcome rather than by final social position; the historical racial context is kept explicit.

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On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.
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“On the occasion of every accident that befalls you, remember to turn to yourself and inquire what power you have for turning it to use.”

Epictetus · Enchiridion · c. 125 CE
Meaning & context

Instead of beginning with what an event has taken away, the practice asks which capacity—endurance, restraint, patience, or judgment—can still be exercised.

Source details

Enchiridion, section X, George Long translation; Epictetus gives examples such as endurance under pain and patience under abuse.

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His motto was 'Persevere!'
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“His motto was 'Persevere!'”

Samuel Smiles · The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson · 1868
Meaning & context

Smiles condenses Stephenson’s response to repeated engineering and institutional obstacles into a single governing principle of continued effort.

Source details

The Life of George Stephenson and of his Son Robert Stephenson, Chapter XI, “Chat Moss—Construction of the Railway”; represented 1868 revised edition, Project Gutenberg #46229. The motto appears in Smiles’s surrounding narration immediately after the quoted Chat Moss recollection.

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